Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.
Industry Moves
- Blue-Chip Galleries Drop Out of Art Basel Miami Beach: At least eight exhibitors—including Alison Jacques, Miguel Abreu, and Lia Rumma—have dropped from the list of participants since the fair announced it in July, as ARTnews reported earlier this week.
- Karim Crippa Takes the Helm at Art Basel Paris: Having previously served as the fair’s director of communications, he will now lead the French edition. The fair’s previous director, Clement Delépine, recently departed to lead the Lafayette Anticipations art space.
- Uffner & Liu Now Represents Reginald Madison: The self-taught painter and sculptor emerged from the Black Arts Movement in Chicago during the 1960s and ’70s. After years of working in relative obscurity, he has recently had shows at September Gallery in Hudson and Rachel Uffner Gallery in New York.
- Paul Soto Gallery Announces Representation of John Sandroni: His work is currently on view at the gallery, which is based in New York.
- KSS Architects Completes Learning and Engagement Center at Newark Museum of Art: The firm has signed off on the New Jersey institution’s new center, which is part of a wider development including a new green space, a new progressive gallery, an outdoor sculpture garden, and Museum Parc.
The Big Number: $107.4 M.
That was the total amount raked in by Christie’s four auctions held at the same time as Art Basel Paris last week. The top lot was Yves Klein’s California (1KB 71), which went for $21.3 million, setting an auction record for the artist in France.
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Melanie Gerlis writes in the Financial Times that in the wake of Frieze and Art Basel Paris doubleheader earlier this month, the art market appears to be regaining momentum after its drawn-out downturn. (This, despite collectors adopting a “safety-first” attitude.) Collectors are showing a preference for works with art-historical grounding and institutional validation over speculation, Gerlis notes. That has dealers hopeful, buoyed by some decent auction results at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London and Paris over the last couple of weeks. The general attitude, as Gerlis describes it? Cautious, historically minded, and somewhat optimistic. Fingers crossed! —George Nelson, UK Reporter
